U.S. President Donald Trump supervises the release of funds from sales of Venezuela’s oil, an official at the U.S. Administration told Semafor on Thursday.
Following the capture of Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro early this month, President Trump moved to create a fund to hold revenues from sales of Venezuela’s oil.
The money is being held in U.S. accounts and released at the discretion of President Trump, Semafor reports.
Revenues from sales of Venezuela’s oil “will first settle in US controlled accounts at globally recognized banks,” the Trump Administration official told the publication.
President Trump’s top advisers are “constantly engaged in positive discussions with oil companies that are ready and willing to make unprecedented investments in Venezuela,” White House spokeswoman Taylor Rogers told Semafor.
Last week, reports emerged that the United States had sold the first cargo of Venezuelan crude it received from the country after Maduro’s ousting. The sale reportedly fetched $500 million.
The proceeds of the sale were out into bank accounts under the control of the U.S. federal government. A source told Reuters at least one of these accounts was in Qatar, which is considered a neutral location “where funds can move with U.S. approval and without risk of seizure.”
Venezuela has already received $300 million from oil sales, Delcy Rodriguez, the country’s acting president approved by the U.S., said earlier this week.
“We should inform you that we have gotten funds, from the sale of oil, and we have gotten, of the first $500 ?million, $300 million,” Rodriguez told the audience at an event in the capital Caracas.
The funds will be used to prop up the local currency, the bolivar, the acting Venezuelan president said.
Meanwhile, commodity traders are vying for Venezuelan oil deals with Washington following the latest events. Companies including Chevron, Vitol, and Trafigura are seeking to expand their fleets in order to be able to handle the sale of the up to 50 million barrels of oil that President Trump said Venezuela would “turn over” to the U.S.
By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com
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